Lander College Alumna Gabrielle Philipson Accepted to Harvard Law

New York, N.Y. – Gabrielle (Gitty) Philipson, an alumna of the Lander College for Women-The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School (LCW) from Monsey, N.Y., has been accepted to Harvard Law School.

“Gitty’s acceptance to Harvard Law reflects well both on her academic gifts and intellectual drive, as well as on the superb work of our political science department and our pre-law advisors,” said Marian Stoltz-Loike, Ph.D., the dean of LCW and Touro’s vice president of online education.

A political science major, Philipson graduated in January, 2012 and planned to apply to graduate school to earn a master’s in public administration. However, on a whim she decided to take the Law School Admission Test, otherwise known as the LSAT, and scored 177 out of 180.

“I’d heard that the LSAT is an analytical—as opposed to a knowledge-based—test, and I’ve always enjoyed that kind of challenge,” said Philipson, who was in the first graduating class of Ateres Bais Yaakov high school in Monsey. “Without the pressure of having to get into a good school there was no need to be stressed and I was able to enjoy the process.”

The results of her test convinced Philipson to consider a career in law and she set her sights high, applying to the oldest and most prestigious law school in the country. She recently learned that she was accepted.

“In high school I dreamed of going to Harvard Law or another Ivy League school, but it just didn’t seem like a possibility at the time,” she said. “Hopefully this will help other Orthodox women realize that LCW can be the pathway to make their dreams come true.”

Daniel Chill, a professor of political science at LCW, had seen Philipson’s potential early on and encouraged her to apply to Harvard.

“I could see from her work and her examinations that she had the analytical skills for it,” said Prof. Chill, who wrote a letter of recommendation for Philipson. “I told her that even if a career in law wasn’t for her, those skills would translate to anything she did, be it running a business or any other endeavor requiring analytical skill.”

Philipson is one of three students from the Lander Colleges—the other students were from the Lander College for Men in Queens and the Lander College of Arts and Sciences in Flatbush—who were accepted to Harvard Law this year. Two other Lander College alumni are current students at Harvard Law.